Finding Home Book 1: Is This Home?
by whitetigerofthenight321
Summary: Naruto is on his journey to become a better ninja in hopes of bringing a certain raven back home. However, he keeps having this reoccurring dream about Orochimaru, Sasuke, and a girl he doesn't even know. When the girl from his dreams turns out to be a real person, he is left wondering. Who is she? Why is she in his dreams? And most importantly; Why does she seem so familiar?


**Author's Notes: It's baaaaaack! My first ever story series is back and better than ever! Let me know what you guys think! Enjoy! ^_^**

**Just a heads up, there is implied SasuNaru in this story. Hope you like it.**

* * *

_ "You shouldn't leave things lying about. Someone could take it." Orochimaru chided in a sickly sweet voice. Two people clad in the same black and red coat as Orochimaru materialize next to him. Naruto struggled in one of the guys arms in an attempt to escape but his little body couldn't do anything. He turned to the kid next to him who was also being restrained. Sasuke kicked and fought in the other man's arms but it was obvious that he was making about as much progress as Naruto. Naruto whimpered and tried to reach out to the brunette girl, fear coursing through his veins. The girl cringed, her blue eyes clouded with worry._

_ "Come with us and they will be unharmed." he said, gesturing to the two panicked toddlers._

_ She paused for a moment, seeming to contemplate her options. "If I go with you, will you leave this village alone?" her eyes never wavered from his._

"_You have my word." he confirmed. Even little Naruto could hear the lie in his voice._

"_Alright." she said, sliding her sword back into their holster, knowing that she really didn't have a choice. "Can I say goodbye?" _

_ The men shrugged, and let Naruto and Sasuke go. They immediately ran to Akemi's waiting arms. She hugged them tightly against her, a tear dripping from her eye_

"_Don't go." Sasuke pleaded. Naruto hugged her tightly around her middle._

"_We need you." Naruto said, tears streaming down his little face. _

"_I'm sorry guys, but I have to." she said, hugging them tighter. She leaned her head in close to their ears, "But don't worry," she whispered, "I'll be back."_

"_How do you know? What if-" Naruto asked, his voice quivering as he spoke._

"_Shhhh." she shushed, "Nothing's going to happen, ok?"_

"_But how can you be so sure?" Sasuke persisted, tears threatening to fall._

"_I'm not, but what I do know is that I will get out, some way or another." she admitted, "And when I do I'll come straight home."_

"_Promise?" Naruto asked in a small voice._

_ She hooked her pinky with both of theirs "I promise, I will come back." she smiled "Believe it."_

_She hugged them one last time, and left. Naruto and Sasuke crawled over to Iruka and Kakashi's prone bodies and wept._

Naruto's eyes snapped open. '_Why do I keep having that dream?' _he wondered. This scene had been haunting his sleep for weeks. It didn't make any sense to him at all. Why would he be with that Sasuke bastard like that, and as a toddler no less? And who was that girl? She looked so familiar…

Shaking his head, he sat up in his sleeping bag. He looked over to where Jiraiya was sleeping, only to find that he wasn't there anymore. Curious, he crawled over to his spot and found a note.

_** Brat,**_

_** Hurry up and get moving.**_

_** Jiraiya**_

He smiled at the Perv's messy handwriting, and he quickly packed up his things and headed in the direction that he assumed Jiraiya had been going.

About fifteen minutes later, he found Jiraiya waiting for him on a tree branch with his eyes closed.

"It took you all this time? I think you're technique is slipping." Jiraiya commented, smirking to himself.

"WHAT?" Naruto squawked, making Jiraiya laugh. In all actuality, Naruto had improved immensely, even though it had only been a few months since they left. _Still, _he thought as Naruto went off on another one of his infamous rants, _he has a long way to go. _

"Alright, alright already. Now quit your yapping and let's get a move on."

Naruto scowled at him, "That's what I've been saying the whole time you stupid old man." he grumbled under his breath, but for once Jiraiya

"Yeah, yeah, let's go." and with that, they were on the move again, heading who knows where.

~*(&)*~

Naruto collapsed on the ground, completely and utterly beat. He had been training for the past six hours, most of which was spent by himself since Jiraiya decided to go do some "research". Naruto scoffed at the memory and rolled over onto his back, staring at the stars. He smiled to himself, thinking about the new moves he created with a couple of his shadow clones. He snickered at the thought of Jiraiya's face when he used the moves on him. His thoughts of a startled Jiraiya were interrupted by some rustling somewhere on his right.

Naruto shot up, narrowing his eyes towards the offensive tree. Suddenly, four assassins jumped out of the tree and stood in front of him. Naruto hopped up, immediately falling to a defensive stance. He stared at them, wondering what the heck brought this on.

"Who are you?" he demanded, a little louder than necessary.

"The people who were sent to kill you, by orders of our Kage." the ninja in front of him answered with a sneer. He figured she was the leader of the group.

"Why would you want to kill me? I haven't done anything to your village!" He replied, dumbfounded as to why they would want to harm an innocent person.

"Not yet you haven't." a man's voice growled behind him. Naruto spun around and saw that the man who had spoken was huge, at least three times the size of himself.

"What are you talking about?" he said, his tone building with anger towards the false accusations they were throwing.

"Our Kage feels that by letting you pass peacefully, we would be endangering the people in our village." The leader elaborated in a light tone of voice, though Naruto could sense the morose meaning behind her sentence.

"We've heard about the nine-tailed fox demon, and how it attacked the village hidden in the leaves. We will not let that happen in our village. Now die, monster." she launched herself at him, her team following suit. Naruto whipped out some kunai from his pouch, about to launch his counter-attack when a bright flash blinded him. Naruto squinted his eyes, the bright light burning his retinas.

When he opened them again, he saw a person with dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, crouching in front of him, sword at the ready. The figure was clearly female, and had on what looked to be a Konoha anbu uniform, though it seemed a little outdated. She was wearing a mask of some kind, but he couldn't see it from where he was standing. The only real difference between the girl and the anbu was that this person had the anbu tattoo on her right arm instead of the left and she had a weird, black and white belt around her hips.

"Back off." the fake anbu commanded calmly, though her tone promised something deadly.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the men shot, ignoring her demand.

"Doesn't matter." she replied unfazed, though her tone had dropped to an icy temperature.

"Leave. This is our business, not yours." their leader stated, authority dripping from her voice. Said ninja did not relax her stance, but instead crouched lower, waited for them to attack. Naruto stared at her in disbelief.

"I don't need to be protected," he muttered, quiet enough that only she could hear, "I can take care of myself." He added stubbornly, despite how exhausted he was from his training. Truth be told, he didn't think he had enough chakra left to fend them off, and he couldn't rely on Kyuubi's chakra either. That would only prove their point. Still, he didn't need saving from some random stranger.

She remained silent, though Naruto could feel her doubting him. He was about to deny her help again, but one of the other ninjas interrupted him.

"You want to stand in our way? Fine. Then die!" the leader spat, and all four ninjas charged towards her. Before Naruto could even react, he felt a tug around his waist. Seconds later he found himself on a tree branch, away from the fight.

The fake anbu separated her twin swords, and lunged at the ninja that was closest to her. Without hesitation, she sliced his chest wide open with one sword, then stabbed the wound with the other. The enemy fell to the ground, dying instantly. The anbu girl spun around and kicked the huge guy in the chest, sending him straight up into the air. She disappeared then, only to reappear next to him, and sent him back to the ground with a quick elbow to the chest. He landed head first, into the ground, causing the ground to collapse around him by the sheer force of the girl. She landed in a crouched position, and waited for the other two to continue the attack.

Not wasting any time, the other male performed his jutsu. Before he could finish, however, the anbu snatched his hands and gripped hard. There was a sickening crack, and he screamed out in pain. She silenced him with her sword, letting him slump to the ground dead.

She turned to the remaining assassin, the female leader, and waited. Said leader was a little surprised that her teammates were defeated so easily. However, she was still confident that she could easily defeat this strange girl.

"You may have killed them quickly, but I won't be that easy." she formed hand seals quickly, and shouted "Blades of Death no jutsu" and slapped her hand on the ground. Suddenly, thousands of kunai shot from behind the assassin, heading straight towards the other girl.

On instinct, she flipped and dodged the kunai. Annoyed, the assassin sent more shooting to both sides, trying to trap her. But the anbu girl just dodged and blocked those too. Anger rising, she sent kunai from all directions.

The anbu girl ducked, but one of the kunai managed to hit their mark. Naruto gasped, expecting the worst. The assassin smirked triumphantly

As if in slow motion, the mask fell from her face to reveal bright blue eyes that contrasted greatly with her tanned skin. Naruto fell out of the tree in shock, (thankfully landing on his feet).She looked almost exactly like him. Except for her brown hair, they could be twins. _Is this the same girl from my dreams?_ He wondered, last night's dream flashing through his head.

Said girl starred at her fallen mask in disbelief. Naruto could now see that the torn mask was in the shape of what he thought looked like a cat of some kind. It had red around the eyes that extended to points at each corner (the mouth was drawn in a similar fashion), and two thick lines that sort of resembled whiskers on each side.

Slowly, she brought her head back up and glowered at the female assassin, making her cower with fear.

"You shouldn't have done that." the girl growled, her voice reaching a dangerous tone. Naruto shuttered, suddenly grateful that the girl was on his side and not the other way around.

The girl disappeared, confusing both Naruto and the lone assassin. Barely a second later, the assassin was sent flying, and she started jerking in different directions. Naruto then realized that the anbu faker hadn't disappeared; she was just too fast for anyone to see.

The assassin leader fell to the ground, mangled and covered in bruises. The girl stood over the women, glaring at her dead form. Sighing, she knelt beside her.

Bewildered, Naruto cautiously approached her. She didn't even flinch when he softly tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned to him and smiled softly, gesturing towards spot next to her. He sat down and stared, wary of her actions.

"So," she began, locking eyes with him for a moment, then continued on with what she was doing, "What do you want to know?" she placed both of her hands on the head of body between them. She closed her eyes and began glowing with a warm, cream colored light.

"What are you doing?" he asked softly, not really knowing why he was whispering.

"Deleting her memories of us." she replied, not opening her eyes.

"Why? Isn't she dead?"

"No," she said, the light surrounding her receding, "but she's injured pretty bad." the light was gone now, and she shifted her hand down over the woman's heart, her hands now glowing green.

"Confused?" she asked, as if reading his thoughts.

"I just don't get why you're healing them." he admitted. He never really liked killing people or any sort of death, but had accepted it as a part of a ninja's way of life. One dies, so another can live.

"Because killing them would cause the village alarm, and they would keep on attacking us. This way, the group of assassins don't remember meeting either of us, and the Kage will hopefully calm down." She answered simply. Naruto nodded his head slightly, the reason seemed perfectly logical to him.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Who are you?" Naruto questioned, his voice a little more sure. She smiled and stood up, apparently finished with her work. She offered her free and for him to shake.

"Akemi." she replied. "Akemi Namikaze."

Naruto paused. Why did that name stir something in his gut? As if he should know it? Akemi stood up and went to the next assassin to repeat the process. "Are you-"

"From Konoha? Originally yes, though I haven't lived there for quite a while."

"Why did you-"

"Leave? I had to leave for…. Business reasons." She replied cryptically, a dark expression overtaking her face for a moment.

"How-"

"Do I keep finishing your sentences?" Naruto scowled at her, getting annoyed. She laughed and ruffled his hair. "You're kind of easy to read kiddo."

Naruto growled and swatted her hand away, making her laugh

"Are you on a mission?"

"Nope! I'm training with Pervy Sage!" he exclaimed proudly.

"Who?"

"Jiraiya! One of the great Sanin!" Naruto exclaimed proudly, a grin stretched across his face.

"Hmm." she gripped her chin, "Shouldn't he be watching you or helping you train?"

"What that old perv? Nah, he's too busy spying on women to help."

"Huh." She muttered absentmindedly, "Go figure."

"Yeah… Hey! You want to meet him?" Naruto brightened.

She ruffled his hair again, "Sure! Just let me finish up here and we can head out to find the hermit." she said, smiling.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" she withdrew her hand.

"Mess with my hair like that."

She shrugged, "I don't know. Impulse I suppose."

"Oh." he scratched the back of his head, "Okay I guess."

She smiled and ruffled his hair again, "I'll be done soon, 'Kay?"

"Okay." he said, smiling as well. _I wonder if she's the girl from my dream_ he wondered sitting up against a tree. They really did looked a lot alike; She had the same blue eyes as the young girl in his dream (and, he noticed, the same shade as his were). She had the same hair, though Akemi's hair was definitely longer than his dream. In every aspect she was a carbon copy of the little girl in his dream. The only question now was if she was the girl in the dream, why was she in the dream in the first place?

Once Akemi had finished, she walked over to him, grabbing her mask on the way.

"Hey, where did you get that mask anyway? And the armor? Are you an anbu member?" he rambled as they walked towards the small village he was staying in.

She laughed, "It's from an old friend of mine. And as for being an anbu member, no I'm not."

"Then why do you have an anbu tattoo on your arm?" he persisted.

"Well, I wanted to honor my heritage, so I got this tattoo and put it on my right arm because I'm right handed. Plus I figured the real anbu wouldn't appreciate my dedication." she added with a laugh.

"Is that why the lines are all blurry?"

"Nah. I just had them put words for the lines. If you look closer, you can see the tiny little letters." she said, holding out her arm to him.

Naruto got closer and squinted, just barely able to distinguish the individual letters in the design carved into her skin. The whole design, he realized, was one fraise over and over again; "I love my past. I love my present. I'm not ashamed of what I've had, and I'm not sad because I have it no longer, because in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." _Wow that's deep,_ he murmured in the contours of his mind.

"You see it?" Akemi asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Yeah." he said absentmindedly, looking back up to her face. At least, he was until he saw something lurking behind her left ear. "There's a huge bug behind your ear!" he exclaimed loudly while pointing at said endangered zone.

Akemi chuckled, "It's not a bug, it's a tattoo."

"Oh. What is it then?"

"It's my mother's clan symbol." she said, moving her bangs so he could see.

"Really?"

"Mmhmm." she confirmed with a smile.

"Huh. You have a lot of tattoos." he stated bluntly, to the point of almost being rude. Thankfully, she didn't take offense.

"I don't know if I'd call two tattoos a lot." She chuckled, grabbing her pack which she apparently had dropped before jumping into the fight

"Come on," she urged gently, a mischievous grin slowly taking up her face "Lets get you back to Jiraiya before you get busted for running off."

Naruto rolled his eyes but chose not to comment, instead he followed her and began telling stories of his good times with Jiraiya. Some she laughed at while others made her cringe. As they talked Naruto couldn't help but feel a sort of familiarity with her that he never felt with anyone before. He didn't know what it was, but something about her made him feel safe and relaxed. Which brought him back to his earlier question; Just who exactly was she?


End file.
